Publisher / Place of Publication: The National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government / Dublin

About: Today, the area regarded as the Wicklow Uplands is mostly included within the Wicklow Mountains National Park. While permanent inhabitants of this area may be as rare as the Abominable Snowman, there is nonetheless a rich social history story to be told. This ranges from the prehistoric period through to the centuries of active resistance to English rule. This study of the history and heritage of the Wicklow Uplands was undertaken at the request of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (Eastern Division).

ID number(s): 0755716930

Contents: Figures and Tables – Abbreviations – The Author – Acknowledgements – Ice Sculptures – Wicklow’s Earliest Inhabitants – Early Human Sculptors – Gaeil is Gaill – War and Peace – New Times, and a New County – From Restoration to Union: The Restoration; The Late Seventeenth Century; The Protestant Ascendancy – War, and a New County – Final Thoughts – References – Bibliography.

Full title: Tales and Yarns of Glendalough and the Wicklow Hills: told to John D. Vose by Bill Fanning, shepherd of Glendalough

Creator / Author: Bill Fanning [with John D. Vose]

Item Type / Page count: Booklet / 48p

When Published: 1986

Publisher / Place of Publication: Wicklow Hills Publishing Company / County Wicklow.

About: Bill Fanning was a native of Roundwood and a sheep farmer. He had a wealth of stories and legends relating to the Wicklow Mountains. This is a collection of some of the tales that he told to John D. Vose between 1956 and 1985. The stories have proved so popular that the booklet has gone into a second edition.

ID number(s): None

Chapters: Introducing the incorrigible Bill Fanning, shepherd of Glendalough — Fair days — Quare characters, tramps, tinkers and ‘chancers’ — Legends of St. Kevin – Childhood days — School days — Wakes and Missions — On the road to Lacken – Zellars O’Lacken – Wee folk, the Banshee and Will O’ the Wisp.

About: A wide-ranging and beautifully produced hardback book which relates the history of Glenmalure and stories of its people. The content of this substantial book is meticulously and widely researched and includes oral testimonies. Every aspect is brought to life with lively text which is interspersed with glorious photographs and illustrations. This book will stand as the definitive history of this lovely valley for years to come.

Appendix II – Townlands, Placenames and Local Names of Glenmalure. Glenmalure – Conavalla and local place names in Conavalla — Ballinagoneen and local place names in Ballinagoneen – Cullentragh Park and local place names in Cullentragh Park — Ballinafunshoge and local place names in Ballinafunshoge – Ballyboy and local place names in Ballyboy – Ballybraid and local place names in Ballybraid — Carriglinneen and local place names in Carriglinneen — Kirikee and local place names in Kirikee — Ballinabarney and local place names in Ballinabarney – Ballintombay Lower and local place names in Ballintombay Lower – Camenabologue and local place names in Camenabologue — Barravore and local place names in Barravore – Ballinaskea / Bolenaskea and local place names in Ballinaskea / Bolenaskea — Clonkeen and local place names in Clonkeen — Corrasillagh and local place names in Corrasillagh — Carrawaystick and local place names in Carrawaystick — Clohernagh and local place names in Clohernagh — Drumgoff and local place names in Drumgoff — Fananierin and local place names in Fananierin — Ballinacor and local place names in Ballinacor – Banks on the road.

About: During the period 1938-1975, J.B. Malone wrote almost 1,000 articles on rambling, walking, cycling or driving to and in the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains. Every article had a detailed sketch map of the route, drawn by himself. He was a leading figure in the establishment of the Wicklow Way in 1982. This book indexes all Malone’s articles published in the Evening Herald and makes it easy to locate his visits to individual places, mountains, hills and valleys.

About: This is the first chapter in a book which describes seven dramatic journeys taken from Irish history and mythology. In this chapter the author utilises his knowledge of mountaineering and of the outdoors to pen what could be called the definitive account of the actual flight of Red Hugh O’Donnell and Art O’Neill through the Wicklow Hills to get to Glenmalure. In 1592, they had just escaped from Dublin Castle and were planning to join up with Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne. The escape and flight is commemorated in an annual ‘Art O’Neill Walk’ / ‘Art O’Neill Challenge’, which starts at Dublin Castle and ends in Glenmalure.

About: This is a scientific paper which looks at the reasons why mountain bogland is sometimes subject to slippage and landslide. The authors use two locations in North West Wicklow as case studies in an attempt to define the characteristics of peat and the underlying geological conditions that make land slippage likely. The upland locations studied are Kilbride and Silsean (also spelled Shileshawn).

About: A map that gives a new perspective to the Wicklow Mountains and surrounding areas. It artistically interprets Ordnance Survey Mapping and aerial photography to provide a unique feel for the terrain that your ordinary map cannot convey. This map covers an area from Dublin City down to Coolgreany, across via Aughrim, Rathdangan and Grangecon, over to Narraghmore, onto Naas and back to Dublin. Unfortunately, coverage does not extend to Carnew, Shillelagh, Tinahely, Kiltegan or Baltinglass.

About: The Wicklow Mountains is the backdrop to a family saga involving three generations of women. An avalanche entombs a family in an isolated dwelling on the hillside. The ghost of a newly born baby inhabits the narrative of this novel from then on. But what other secrets remain to be uncovered?

ID number(s): 9781908417107

WW Connection #1: The setting of this book is in the Wicklow Mountains, albeit in a location unidentifiable.

Extra #1: Opening line: “My grandmother was born under the avalanche, the only one ever to have happened in this valley, or indeed any valley anywhere in Ireland. It left a place of deep shadows and sadness so that even the birds didn’t sing there anymore, on the side of that lonely hill in Wicklow.”

About: A study of the smallest falcon species in Ireland. The book concentrates on a pair of birds based in the Wicklow Mountains and is a delightful natural history of both the bird and its surroundings. Many years of observation went into the making of this labour of love which showcases one of our most secretive birds.